1. Field of the Invention
The invention in general relates to ruggedized computers and more particularly to such a computer having a housing that provides accessibility and adaptability to a wide variety of electronic components, and which directs cooling air to these components without transmission of shock.
2. Statement of the Problem
Ruggedized microcomputers are computers that have been specially designed to protect the electronic parts of the computer in hostile environments, such as on the battle field. Generally computers are maintained in controlled environments of "computer rooms" where temperature, humidity, vibration, etc. are closely controlled. This fact indicates the difficulty of designing computers that will operate in the extreme conditions of shock, vibration, temperature and humidity that can exist in the field.
Prior approaches to designing ruggedized microcomputers have included the mounting of the electronic components in strong frames, and the suspension of these frames within the computer housing on shock isolation mechanisms to prevent shocks to the housing from being transmitted to the electronic components. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,804 issued to W. Carroll Campbell et al. It has generally been the practice in ruggedized computers to strengthen all housing parts. For example, in ruggedized computers the relatively flexible circuit boards generally are mounted on rigid metal plates. This prevents flexing of the circuit boards which can lead to deterioration. At the same time, ruggedized computers are also as compact as possible to allow them to be more easily moved in the field. The combination of more complex, stronger housing structures with compactness has led to relative inaccessibility of components in ruggedized computers, even though accessibility and ease of repair of components is more important in these computers, as they may need to be serviced in hostile environments, such as war. Thus it would be highly desirable to have a ruggedized computer with a housing that has all the advantages of ruggedization yet provides ease of accessibility and repair of the electronic components.
The complex housings of ruggedized microcomputers are more expensive to build than the housings of other microcomputers. In addition, customers of ruggedized computers have many specialized needs, and thus they may specify any of a wide variety of processors and other components, for example anything from a PC processor to a Sun.TM. to a VAX.TM. processor. This combination of requirements has made it quite expensive to design, manufacture and store a supply of housings that will meet all customer needs. A ruggedized computer that retains the advantages of such computers and yet can accommodate a wide variety of electronic components would be a significant advance over the prior art.
The suspension of the electronics in positions away from the housing walls in ruggedized microcomputers necessarily creates gaps between the electronics and the walls. Thus, cooling air in such microcomputers tends to flow in these gaps rather than over the electronic parts. For this reason prior approaches to controlling the temperature environment in ruggedized microcomputers have used large fans with essentially straight-line flow structures plus the use of specialized smaller fans to cool specific components. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,804, referred to above. These solutions have added more complexity and constraints on the placement of internal components in ruggedized microcomputers that have further decreased the accessibility, lowered the adaptability to a variety of components, and increased the expense of building such computers. Thus a need exists for a simpler way of cooling while still providing the other advantages of ruggedized computers, such as shock isolation.
3. Solution to the problem:
The present invention provides a ruggedized microcomputer in which electronic units, such as circuit boards, can be moved from normal positions in which the block access to other components to service positions in which the other components are accessible and can be serviced.
The invention provides an apparatus for stably supporting the electronics units in the service positions, apparatus for electrical connection of the electronic units in the service positions, and apparatus which facilitates the moving of the units by hand.
The present invention provides an electronics tray which can accommodate a wide variety of processor units, which tray can be attached or released from the microcomputer by hand.
Additionally the invention provides a ruggedized computer housing extension that can be easily inserted in the manufacturing process to allow the microcomputer to accommodate a wide variety of processors requiring different headroom
The invention also provides a baffle that directs air flow to the electronics in an electronics assembly, without transmitting housing shocks to the various electronic assemblies it must contact in order to effectively direct such air flow.
The combination of the aspects of the invention listed above work together to provide a ruggedized microcomputer with unusual accessibility, adaptability, compactness, and durability. The ability to move electronics to service positions and to stably support them clearly creates greater accessibility, but also permits the units to be located more compactly in their normal positions since they can be moved when necessary. The electronics tray that can accommodate a variety of processors and is easily releasable clearly increases accessibility and adaptability, but also increases compactness for the reason given above and durability because sensitive electronics parts are less likely to be damaged when adjustments or repairs are made to the computer. The extension clearly increases adaptability and accessibility, but also means that microcomputers without the extension can be more compact since the extension is available, and increases durability because electronics is less likely to be crammed into too small of a housing. The baffle that does not transmit shock clearly adds to the durability because it directs air to where it can cool most effectively, but it also increases accessibility and adaptability because it can be easily moved to provide access to and adapt to other parts, and permits increased compactness because more effective cooling is available.